Narendra Modi not an issue for Congress, says Digvijaya Singh

Bhopal: Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was not an issue for his party, which believes in fighting ideological battles in which personalities do not matter much.

He dismissed the BJP stalwart as a creation of 'media hype' and challenged his claim of having ushered a new era of growth in Gujarat, where BJP is in power since mid 1990s. "Modi is a media hype and we challenge him on the issue of development as there is no sector in which Gujarat was at the top of the table," the Congress General Secretary told PTI in Bhopal.

To a query, Singh said in his opinion next month's Karnataka Assembly elections will not be a fight between Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Modi. He said the Congress hoped to win Karnataka, where people have seen how the ruling BJP had "looted" the state in the last years.

Digvijaya Singh said Rahul Gandhi had been campaigning for the Congress since 2004 and the party won Lok Sabha elections in that year and again in 2009.

Singh said Rahul had been campaigning for the Congress since 2004 and the party won Lok Sabha elections in that year and again in 2009.

"The party, heading the UPA Government at the Centre, has also done well at the state-level since 2004 and won elections in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Rajasthan, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand," he said.

"The Congress vote-share had gone up in all elections held after 2004 and Rahul must be given credit for this," the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister added.